It was imposed on the state during the reign of Gov. George Romney-the-tax-hiker. Now comes a West Michigan lawmaker seeking to scrap it. “It” being the state income tax.

That loud shout of joy you just heard is from the anti-tax crowd, which would love to do just that. Never mind that it would leave a gaping $8.5 billion hole in the state budget.

Rep. Bob Genetski (R-Saugatuck) thinks he is onto something here with his constitutional amendment that might end up on the 2014 ballot for you to decide.

“I believe a majority of Michiganders would vote to get rid of it,” he predicts and at first blush, he might be right.

The other shout of anguish you just heard is from all the folks who feed at the state money trough - including the schools, the unions, the local governments and others that would mount an expensive campaign to kill it.

Mr. Genetski acknowledges that there is no such thing as a free tax break and some mechanism would be needed to restore part or all of the $8.5 billion the income tax brings into state coffers.

Or put another way, you might lose the income tax but gain a hefty sales tax hike in return. So what’s the diff?

The “diff” is the sales tax is actually more unfair than the income tax. If you are poor the sales tax on your monthly food bill, percentage wise, takes a bigger chunk out of your paycheck than it does for the slug dragging down $100,000 a year.

At least there is some fairness built into the income tax in that the more you earn the more you pay.

Of course all this is speculative as Mr. G. has not introduced this thing. And if and when he does, it would take a two-thirds vote in both houses to place it on the ballot. Translated: Democrats would have to kick in some votes to do it.

And here’s the dirty little secret. Democrats, who carry the water for the above-mentioned special interest groups are not likely to kick in many votes to repeal the income tax. It's a dead duck. Quack. Quack.

Watch "Off the Record with Tim Skubick" online anytime at video.wkar.org